Wednesday 30 September 2009
totesport.com League Cup
Bradford City 1 (N Clarke 1)
Morecambe 0
Kick Off: 7.00pm
at the Coral Windows Stadium

A single goal from Nathan Clarke in the match's very first minute handed the Bantams reserve side their second victory in a row in the totesport.com League Cup.

Despite openings for both sides, Clarke's powerful header after less than 30 seconds was to prove the only strike of the game and the only thing to separate the two teams.

While City's second string may have failed to register a point in their league campaign, it is a different story in the League Cup. This narrow victory maintained the club's 100% record at the early stage of this competition following the Bantams previous victory over Middlesbrough in August.

This fixture came less than 24 hours after the first teams of both clubs had locked horns at Christie Park in a Coca-Cola League 2 fixture.

Part two of the Shrimps v Bantams double-header saw a welcome return from injury for veteran striker Peter Thorne.

Thorne hadn't previously featured for City since straining his hamstring in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy fixture against Rochdale at the start of the month.

Irishman Rory Carson, who was also returning from an enforced layoff, was named among the substitutes.

One new name to Bantams supporters among the starting eleven will have been midfielder Grant Kerr.

The former Everton apprentice is currently on trial with the club after spells in Scotland and America.

After featuring as unused subs the previous night at Christie Park, the experienced pair of Matthew Clarke and Chris Brandon were also named in the starting line up.

City's second string made a lighting start, taking the lead after only 24 seconds.

A cheeky back heel by Brandon found the over lapping run of young Curtis Collantine. The full back's cross was met by fellow apprentice Nathan Clarke, who powered a sweetly timed header past Morecambe keeper Scott Davies and into the top corner.

Barely ten minutes were on the clock when Morecambe's Mark Duffy squandered a golden chance to drag his side level.

A neat flick by Duffy saw the Morecambe winger in space in the Bantams penalty area and bearing down on Jon McLaughlin's goal. The angle was slightly against Duffy though and McLaughlin managed to deflect his effort away.

Moments later and a neat pass by Brandon released Leon Osborne inside the Morecambe area. The Bantams winger drove to the byline and sent the ball sliding across goal. The waiting Thorne was denied a tap in by the recovering Jason Yates, before Matthew Poole cleared the danger away from the on-rushing Nathan Clarke.

The chances kept coming at the Coral Windows Stadium, as Morecambe's Rory Winters went agonisingly close to scoring from a Craig Stanley set-piece.

Stanley's free kick found Winters lurking at the far post, but the giant defender was leaning back as he scooped his effort over from close range.

A driving run by Duffy ended in a powerful shot coming from the right boot of the diminutive winger, forcing a smart save from McLaughlin.

At the opposite end of the field, a similarly forceful run by Osborne saw the Bantams forward burst into the Morecambe penalty area. As he drew Davies out of his goal, the handful of watching spectators expected the net to bulge, only to see Osborne's shot somehow fizz just wide.

The Bantams went close again when a Brandon corner found its way through to Matthew Clarke. The big defender elected not to shot and instead feed Thorne, who drew a neat save from Davies down to his left.

A delightfully flowing move almost resulted in a second goal for the Bantams just after the half hour mark.

A combination of passes between Brandon and Osborne resulted in the former sending over a far post cross to the waiting Louis Horne. The left back's first time strike flashed across goal to Thorne, who could only manage to help it over the bar from close range,

A loose touch by Morecambe's Gavin Clark allowed Osborne to burst foward as City counter-attacked from a Morecambe corner on the stroke of half time.

It became two on one in the Bantams favour as Nathan Clarke raced forward in support of his team-mate.

Osborne tried to pick out Clarke, unfortunately his pass was slightly behind him, forcing the 2nd year apprentice to break his stride and therefore allowing the recovering Morecambe defenders to deflect his effort away.

From the resulting corner, Thorne forced Davies into a superb reflex save after the veteran forward had connected with Osborne's cross with a powerful header.

Some delightful footwork from Sharry at the start of the second half saw the Bantams midfielder bamboozle Ben Jackson and race clear into the area. Davies came out quickly to narrow the angle and in doing so, managed to deflect Sharry's effort behind.

Some loose passing from City allowed Stanley pick up the ball deep inside Bantams territory and find Aaron Taylor in the box. Taylor was about to pull the trigger until he was denied at the last by a superbly timed tackle from Matthew Clarke.

From the corner that followed, Craig Lindfield thought he had drawn his side level. The Morecambe winger's header was headed onto the crossbar by Collantine before bouncing down on the goal-line.

Despite Lindfield's protest, the linesman deemed that the ball had stayed the right side of the line and the Bantams stayed ahead.

Morecambe keeper Davies made his case for an outfield berth as he made dealing with a tricky backpass look easy as he side-stepped not only Nathan Clarke but the on-rushing Thorne.

The hour point in the match marked the welcome return from injury of 1st year professional Rory Carson, as he took the place of Brandon. The young Irishman had missed all pre-season with a fractured metatarsal.

Thorne thought he had doubled City's advantage moments later. The experienced forward finished expertly pass Davies only to be denied by the linesman flag.

It would be his last action of the match as he was then replaced by 1st year apprentice Darren Stephenson. The powerful young forward from Jamaica was making his debut at this level.

Another testing Stanley free kick was narrowly missed by Yates as the centre half steamed in unopposed at the far post, while another similar set-piece from the Morecambe midfielder saw Winters let himself down by poor control when in a promising position.

The 75-minute mark saw trialist Kerr's evening ended as he was replaced by young Ryan Harrison. It had been a quiet, but effective debut performance from the former Everton apprentice.

With little over ten minutes remaining, the game was marred slightly by an ugly confrontation between Osborne and Stanley. The Bantams winger seemed to react to a challenge from the Morecambe midfielder and the pair exchanging pushes, before they both had to be physically separated by Bantams coaching staff.

A stinging drive for Duffy with barely five minutes remaining, forced McLaughlin into producing a superb flying save to deny the Morecambe midfielder.

With time running out, a teasing cross by Duffy saw Lindfield fire straight at McLaughlin from point blank range. Either side of the Bantams keeper and surely the Morecambe midfielder would have been favourite to score.

Despite this late scare, the Bantams goal managed to stay unbreached as Bradford saw out the fixture to complete victory

BRADFORD CITY	MORECAMBE
1 Jon McLaughlin	1 Scott Davies
2 Curtis Collantine	2 Ben Jackson
3 Louis Horne	3 Gavin Clark
4 Luke Sharry	4 Jason Yates
5 Phil Cutler	5 Rory Winters
6 Matthew Clarke	6 Mathew Poole
7 Nathan Clarke	7 Craig Lindfield
8 Grant Kerr	8 Craig Stanley
9 Leon Osborne	9 Aaron Taylor
10 Peter Thorne	10 Michael Twiss
11 Chris Brandon	11 Mark Duffy
Substitutes:	Substitutes:
12 Rory Carson for 11 (60)	12 Ricky Ball
13 Chris Cheetham	13 Adam Bee
14 Andrew Villermann	14 Niall Cowperthwaite
15 Ryan Harrison for 8 (75)	15 Connor Crossley
16 Darren Stephenson for 10 (65)

MATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee	A Halliday
Assistant Referee	D Musgrave
Assistant Referee	M R Thorley
4th Official	N Haycock

GOALSCORERS:
BRADFORD CITY	MORECAMBE
N Clarke (1)